


Focus

by lilaussieauthor, theauthenticme



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Angst, Canon Lesbian Relationship, Cheryl would do anything for Toni, Choni in love, Exam Stress, Exams, F/F, Finals, Stress Relief, Toni Topaz Needs a Hug, canon leabians, choni, soft choni
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-16
Updated: 2019-06-16
Packaged: 2020-05-12 12:11:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,199
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19228900
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lilaussieauthor/pseuds/lilaussieauthor, https://archiveofourown.org/users/theauthenticme/pseuds/theauthenticme
Summary: Toni is very stressed about her exams and Cheryl finds a way to make her feel better





	Focus

**Author's Note:**

> I think we can all relate to feeling stressed by exams, especially this time of year!
> 
> This is just a fluffy Choni one-shot about how Cheryl helps Toni.

Toni was beyond stressed for her exams. Unlike Cheryl, who’d done hers and passed flying colours, she actually had to work hard to get the results she wanted.

And the stress of the exams and work and the consequential lack of time she’d spent with her girlfriend lately was getting on her nerves, making her emotional and anxious and really, really stressed.

At the moment she was hunched over her desk in Cheryl's study, working hard on a math problem she just couldn’t seem to get right, biting her lip as tears pricked at her eyes. She was so dumb, she couldn’t get this one problem right and it was doing her head in, she was so close to just breaking down completely, cracking under the stress and not caring at all.  
  
"TT?" Cheryl asked, coming up behind her in the study and resting gentle hands on her shoulders. "What are you working on?"  
  
Toni sighed, frustrated. "Math."

  
"Oh?" Cheryl peered over her shoulder.  
  
Toni looked down at her scribbled, scrawled out notes and felt immediately embarrassed... Cheryl's notes were always so perfect and pretty and here's her, three pages of scribbles and eighty percent of those wrong. She moved her hand quickly over the book, thumping her head down on top of her arms with a heavy sigh.  
  
"T?" She gently pulled the book out from under her arms. "Can I help?"  
  
"No," Toni mumbled moodily. "I'm gonna fail it either way."  
  
"No you're not..let me help.." she gently eased Toni off the chair, sat in it and pulled Toni down into her lap.   
  
Toni sighed, turning immediately to bury her face grumpily in Cheryl's neck. "I am... just give up on me... I've got no hope at all."  
  
"That's not true at all.." Cheryl rubbed her back. "You're so smart, you just get a little stressed sometime."  
  
"A little?" Toni asked. "God..."  
  
"Okay.. a lot stressed. But I can help with that too my love..”  
  
Toni raised an eyebrow. "How exactly do you propose to do that?"

"I can think of a few ways" she whispered in her ear as her fingers grazed along her back.   
  
Toni's breath hitched and she flicked her eyes down to Cheryl's lips before pulling away with a long sigh. "God, Cher, I want to... but I can't. I have to study."

She stood up and started gathering her books in her arms, ignoring the tight coil in her belly and not meeting her girlfriend's eyes, scared she'd break down completely.  
  
"We don't have to do _that_ TT, but I do wanna help you study.." she pulled her back onto her lap gently.  
  
"It's not fair, Cheryl!" Toni burst out suddenly. "I wanna do that. I don't wanna be stuck here, working on stupid math problems that won't get me anywhere in life, I wanna go and show my girlfriend how much I love her and stupid, dumb school means that I can't and I don't understand any of this, Cher..." She sucked in a long breath, tears brimming in her tired eyes. "I've been studying for weeks and I still don't get it. I've been sacrificing you for weeks for these dumb exams - shit, Cher, we haven't even made out properly for ages! - and I still have no fucking idea what I'm doing. Is there something wrong with me?"  
  
"I know, I know.." she ran a soothing hand up and down Toni's back. "Just take a breath okay? You can do this T. I think you're finding it hard because you've been studying so long. Sometimes less is more you know?"

She stroked her cheek to draw her eyes up. "There's nothing wrong with you baby...look...come here.." she leaned in for a kiss.  
  
Toni sighed, closing her eyes and meeting Cheryl’s lips tiredly. “I just wanna throw it all away and go kiss you forever,” she murmured. “Why are exams even a thing?”  
  
"I'd love that too, but studying is important.." she kissed Toni's lips softly again. "I know if feels hard now but think how _good_ you'll feel when it's over."  
  
Toni pouted. “When it’s over, can I kiss you forever?” Her voice had a slight childish lilt to it, something that Cheryl noticed happened whenever she was tired.  
  
"Forever and always TT" she promised. "I think you need to come chill for a bit, getting too tired to study won't help."  
  
“But... but I need to study...”  
  
"I know..and I'll help. But a little break will help."  
  
“Okay,” Toni said defeatedly. “But _only_... like, 5 minutes.”  
  
"Okay..okay..5 minutes.." she took her hand and led her to the couch in the living room.  
  
Toni followed with a sigh, her mind still running over calculus and trigonometry.  
  
Cheryl flopped onto the couch, pulling Toni into her lap again. It was one her favorite places to be, being able to hold her in her arms.  
  
Toni let out a meek mewl, sinking into Cheryl’s soft embrace, thinking over everything she needed to know for her exams. God, it was a lot.  
  
"Tell me what's going on in your head right now.." she promoted softly.  
  
Toni closed her eyes. “Pythagoras’s theorem... the properties of metals and non-metals... the chemical formula for photosynthesis... how to write an essay...”  
  
"Kinda feels like it's going round and round on a loop huh?"  
  
Toni nodded softly. “Cher - wait, what’s that quote from Animal Farm? The - the one to do with... shit, I can’t remember.” She bent her head, tears pooling in her eyes. “I can’t remember anything.”  
  
"Yes you can.." she promised. "You're just getting stressed by everything. Once you relax a bit, you'll see that all the answers are all in your head."  
  
“I can’t just _relax_ , Cher!”  
  
"You can TT. It will help, trust me."  
  
"But... I don't know how I'm supposed to relax," Toni whispered.  
  
"That's why you have an amazing girlfriend.." she kissed the back of Toni's neck. "How about a shoulder massage? You love that."  
  
Toni nodded. "Only two minutes... then I gotta get back to work, kay?"  
  
"whatever you want babe.." she started to massage her shoulders gently.  
  
Toni began to relax, leaning into Cheryl's talented fingers and closing her eyes.

"There are better things you could be doing with your hands right now," she mumbled softly, cracking an eye open with a grin.  
  
"While I don't disagree my love, this is a study break. It's staying strictly PG."  
  
"Studying sucks," Toni said with a sigh. "But I should get back to it..." she looked up at Cheryl, sudden inspiration hitting her as her eyes sparkled. "But I need motivation."  
  
"What are you thinking my love?"  
  
Toni smirked. "Something to look forward to after I've done my exams?" She winked, grinning. "A little _less_ PG?"  
  
"I think that could be arranged.."  
  
Toni giggled, leaning up to press her lips to Cheryl's. "See? Look how motivated I am now... hey, you're smart, can you come help me with math?"  
  
"Of course, I'm all yours TT.." she laved their fingers together. "But for the record, you're smart too."  
  
"Mm... not as smart as you... I don't get trigonometry. Like... what's the whole point of a unit circle? When am I ever gonna need that?" Toni rambled, leading Cheryl back to the study and plonking down on her chair, her shoulders slumping when she saw her messy, scribbled, incorrect notes again.  
  
"I agree, it _is_ stupid but we gotta do it."  
  
Toni scrunched her face up. "Ew... okay. Help. What do I even do?"  
  
"Let me take a look and we'll come up with a plan okay?" Cheryl looked through all Toni's notes, making a list.  
  
Toni nodded, sighing. “I just want them to be over...”  
  
"They will be soon."  
  
“Soon...” Toni repeated, laying her head on Cheryl’s shoulder. “God, soon can’t come quick enough.”  
  
"I know, I know..but I _know_ you can do it okay? Even if you don't."  
  
"For the record," Toni said, sitting up and picking up her pen. "I am _only_ doing this because of what you promised... and because I wanna get into a good college - but mainly because of what you promised we could do after." She grinned. "I'm totally holding you to that, can you tell?"  
  
Cheryl grinned. "Clearly my skills in the bedroom are worth waiting for."  
  
"I'd rather... not wait," Toni grinned back. "Maybe we can skip the exams and go straight to the reward?"  
  
"Nu-uh.." Cheryl waggled her finger. "Good things come to those who wait."  
  
"Waiting is overrated... as is trigonometry..."  
  
"Agreed on both counts. But now is study time" she chuckled.  
  
"Ugh, okay," Toni agreed. "Help?"  
  
"Of course..lets start with.." she ran her finger along the page. "This."  
  
Toni nodded, and for the next couple of hours they went over and over triangles and angles and unit circles until her eyes were drooping and she let out a long yawn.  
  
"I think it's time for bed TT.." she noticed how tired she was.   
  
Toni nodded, biting back another yawn. She let Cheryl guide her upstairs to bed and snuggled tight into her girlfriend’s side, trying to push down her anxieties about the exam the following morning.

“Thanks for helping me, Cher.”  
  
" Anytime my love.”  
  
Toni mumbled happily, nestling closer and letting her eyes drop closed. “Love you.”  
  
"Love you too. Now get some sleep babe."  
  
“Mkay,” Toni whispered, falling asleep quickly.  
  
....  
  
Toni was, if possible, more stressed the following morning.

She showered quickly, getting dressed haphazardly and then sitting right down at the desk and looking back over her maths, her tired eyes boring into the paper and taking nothing in.  
  
"TT, you know this stuff now. You're going to be fine during the exam, I know it."  
  
Toni shook her head anxiously. "I think it all fell out of my head when I was sleeping... I can't remember anything."  
  
"Just take some deep breaths and focus. Once you get in there it will all come back to you".  
  
Toni looked up at her, tears brimming in her wide eyes. "What if it doesn't?"  
  
"If it doesn't, it's not the end of the world. We'll figure something else out okay?"  
  
Toni shook her head. "It is... it will be... god, Cher, what if I can't remember anything?"  
  
" _If_  that happens, which it won't.." she reassured. "Then that's okay. We can get you a tutor so you feel more confident next time okay?"  
  
"I don't _want_ a tutor," Toni whispered, her chest tightening. "I can't do this, Cher!"  
  
"Baby, yes you can.." she cupped her cheeks. "You totally can."  
  
"How are you so confident?" Toni murmured, leaning forward and settling her weight against Cheryl.  
  
"Because I know you and I know you can do this."  
  
Toni felt her chest unclench. "Thanks, Cher... I needed that."

She didn't move her body, instead burying her face in Cheryl's chest and breathing her in.  
  
"Just try and relax a bit okay? That will help.."  
  
Toni nodded. "I'm finding that a bit hard at the moment..."  
  
"I know..but I'm here to help remember?"  
  
She nodded again. "H-Help then... please..."  
  
"What would help right now TT?"  
  
Toni shrugged. "I don't even know at this point... I'm just freaking out..."

  
"How about this?" She started to kiss her softly.  
  
Toni let out a soft whimper. "Y-Yeah..."  
  
"Okay good. Just enjoy this for a little bit okay?"  
  
Toni nodded, tilting her head up slightly to pull Cheryl's bottom lip between hers.  
  
Cheryl let her hands fall into Toni's hair, playing with it as she deepened the kiss.  
  
Toni mewled softly as her mouth fell open, welcoming Cheryl's tongue happily... this was much better than studying.  
  
Cheryl deepened the kiss, her fingers at the nape of Toni's neck, drawing her closer.  
  
Toni’s hands dropped to rest on Cheryl’s waist, curling around it to pull the redhead closer with a quiet whine as her lips worked against Cheryl’s.  
  
"Your certainly looking more relaxed to me now" Cheryl whispered against her lips.  
  
Toni nodded, moving forward again to kiss Cheryl before pulling back. “Wait - wait, my exam’s in an hour... can we finish this after, please?”  
  
"Of course.." Cheryl agreed. "Whatever you want my love."  
  
“I want you...”  
  
"And you'll have me.. _all_  of me. Later okay?" her fingers brushed along Toni’s arm.  
  
Toni grinned. “You keep me going, Blossom.”  
  
"Aw I'm glad TT. You do for me too."  
  
Toni smiled, turning away from Cheryl after another quick peck. “I gotta go... do this dumb exam... but after, we have plans, okay?” She grinned, pressing her lips once more against her girlfriend’s. “I love you.”  
  
"We do indeed have plans my love. Now go be awesome, just as I've always known you to be."  
  
Toni grinned, her tongue between her teeth as she grabbed her bag and walked out the door. “Bye, Cher!”  
  
"Bye Toni.."'she called, blowing her a kiss as she left.  
  
Toni shot her a smile and hopped on her bike, her mind wonderfully void of any worries as she prepared herself for the exam. Cheryl was a miracle worker and she was forever grateful for her calming presence and endless belief in her. She _could_ do this.

And she did. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
> We love to read your comments and love to write your prompts, so feel free to leave us some below! 😊❤️🍒💜


End file.
